New Sails For 45DS

[Deleted]

I am considering replacing the sails that were delivered with my 45DS in 2008 and I am looking for opinions and advice - crosscut, radial, or try-radial dacron sails?

Has any owner of a 45DS recently replaced their sails - genoa and in-mast furling mainsail - and what route did you take. I had vertical battens on a previous boat that increased the roach considerably, but they were a challenge when furling etc.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[rene460]

Hi Nthomp,
A few thoughts based on my recent sail replacement on my 30i where they will also apply to your boat.
I learned much from talking with two good sailmakers from whom I was prepared to buy the sails.  Also from reading the North Ufast course notes which I was fortunate to be able to borrow.  They are excellent on sail shape factors among the more expected things.

Reason for replacement - old sails were too deep in camber, camber too far aft, and no longer holding shape in gusts.   Made boat very twitchy to steer and very difficult to trim- leech flutter, difficult to stream more than one set of tell tails, rounding up!  All easily diagnosed with a few photos and eventually the sail to the sailmaker.  Not sufficiently cured by a luff recut (relatively cheap and simple) but bigger recut of old material not worth the cost.

Cloth quality and sail shape are top priority.  That said, you also want appropriate quality.  You want good strength and high modulus (low stretch) but compatible with your two furlers.  I chose tri radial for slightly better shape but was assured that straight cut in good Dacron would also be good for slightly less cost.  But there is more to shape as I understand the issues - a cruising cut has shape a bit like profile of the top of a wing, racing sails tend to be more circular section even though max camber is still forward of mid girth.  Racing cut is a bit better when properly trimmed but worse when only nearly right, and consequently needs frequent re-trimming.  Cruising cut is not quite as good at its best but still good enough when nearly right.  Effect, if your number one trimmer/ex checker controller normally prefers reading a book, is that you will probably be slower with the best racing cut unless you have a crack trimmer.

I have slab reefing with full length battens and Selden batcars so not applicable to your mast furler.  Sail maker is best to recommend battens and subtle mods to cater for your mast furler.  My local sailmaker also came on board to take responsibility for measurements rather than risk a need for modifications of a bad fit.  He also come on board if we have any problems. He will also add reinforcing on the main when spreaders show their location.  Overall, my experience was great, using a local sailmaker with computer design facilities and a good reputation gets service well worth a premium over Internet imports.  I believe my initial research helped me to have a more useful discussion with the sail maker.  
rene460

[Deleted]

Hi Rene460 and thanks for your thoughts. Bottom line, I have to start talking to a couple of different sailmakers, weighing the alternatives and hopefully making the right decision, however I am leaning toward a try-radial solution.

[rene460]

Hi Nthomp,  I went tri radial as the savings for horizontal seams did not seem enough for the shape compromise.  Apparently the cloth is better also, as it is optimised for the stresses in the radial panels.  But that could depend on the manufacturer.  Main thing is not to go so high tech that sail life is excessively compromised.  If you are like me you want to use the furler.
We are delighted with our new sails, boat is a delight to steer now, even stays on a straight track without a hand on the wheel when well trimmed.  Steering it a few degrees of the wheel instead of half a turn.  And major speed improvement compared with boats we had sailed alongside (or rather left far behind by) on the old sails.  Now properly competitive and we can sail to the subtle direction changes of gusts and lulls.  Now working on achieving best upwind performance (VMG).
rene460

[MartyB]

Depending upon the cost, you might also look at some ALL laminate sails like Ullmans CAL. THis is a panel sewn laminate that is a bit lighter but stronger than most dacron or tri radial dac/mylar sails. Even some of the triradial pentax sails at not that much more than a dac/mylar cloth mix, and have better sailing performance etc. I've probably bought my last dacron or dacron mix sail a few yrs ago, as the laminates at least for my boat, are not that much more, and the performance etc is enough that the cost is worth it. Granted I spend more time racing that daysail/cruising, but if you are in a light wind area as I am, laminated do make a difference in winds under 15 knots or so.

Marty

[sabmd42]

Hi nthomp,
I went through this last year with my new-to-me 1999 Sun Odyssey 45.2. I have a roller furling main. I wanted to get some decent performance as I race a lot. I discovered I could get a roller furling mainsail with air battens. They collapse when deflated and easily roll in and out of the mast. They inflate easily with a hand pump and are stiff enough to act like real traditional battens. (There is also a built in electric manifold, but this seemed too complicated and costly to me). The maker of the air battens has partnered with UK Halsey Sails, so as far as I know you can only get them from UK (I mean UK Sails, not the United Kingdom). I procrastinated way too long last year and only got them at the tail end of the season, but I was thrilled with the added performance compared to the old stretched out original dacron sail. They had only been used in dacron sails before me. I got them in a composite high tech material, better for racing and much lighter weight.
Good luck with your sail search.
Steve